GUN The Guru's Ghost.

As I sit and enjoy the silence that comes with the black of early night streaked with dawn’s light, I’m gifted with sight that doesn’t come during the daylight grind of life. Tonight’s prescience: the continual paradigm of good and evil.

Someone once said, during a classic movie, that evil will always triumph because good is dumb. It is a great phrase, and true more often than not. But the phrase much more inscribed on the popular consciousness is this: All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. This is far more accurate, for one simple fact: Good is work. Good is hard. Good requires effort, perseverance, time, and persistence. Good is not popular; good doesn’t get chicks; good isn’t sexy.

Good is simply this: doing what you know is right, regardless of any consequence. In a world that doesn’t believe in personal responsibility, this is an alien characteristic. Nothing is your fault; do what you will. I believe this is the single most damning fault of humankind. It is what will overturn every civilization, it is the apathy fomented on the populace. It is the reason that the Middle East has never escaped the dark ages. It is the reason man’s inhumanity to man can continue. Because good is work. Evil is undemanding. Hate is effortless. Racism is easy. Good requires strength of character that few choose to exercise.

How does this translate to the fight? Simply this, as a man, one far greater and gifted with the word than I wrote; To ride, shoot straight and speak the truth. We speak of tactics, mindset, training, equipment and ability, but the overarching issue is a simple one. Do I, as a man, choose to be good? Do I believe that defense of home and loved ones is just? Do I believe that taking a life to save a life is honorable? Do I believe that the swift and violent application of arms is moral? These are the questions to which a man of arms must subject himself.

One of the peculiarities of man is his ability to rationalize. Man can justify many things to many people, and to some extent, himself. But there always remains some rational portion of himself that he cannot deceive. That still small voice always knows what is right. Almost invariably, that voice of good requires effort. I used to tell my troops in the Corps that if it didn’t hurt, you must have not been doing it right. I paraphrase that here to say that if is doesn’t require effort, you aren’t doing right.

The Guru once said that if the job required a mask, it was probably not honorable to begin with. We go through day-to-day living behind a mask, go to work with a mask, deal with friend behind that mask, and rarely, despite the ever-shrinking world come in contact with people. I believe the Guru’s words have more than one meaning. In the original context, the reference was to lawmen covering their faces before engaging in tactical operations. In another light, the mask we present to others is a key part in the deterioration of human interaction. Falseness, pretense, affectations and simple deceits are instantly detectable. Genuine people, caring people, considerate people are also instantly identifiable. Be one of those people… but be a warrior.

The warrior’s traits are many; Justice Judgment Dependability Initiative Decisiveness Tact Integrity Enthusiasm Bearing Unselfishness Courage Knowledge Loyalty and Endurance. Lofty words, but hard to master. Such is the nature of good. It will require work. It will require dedication. It will be the hardest contest of will in your life. You say you take up arms, but will you take up good?